The finalists for 2012-13 Downtown Event of the Year are
Greene Street Market, Panoply, Rocket City Brewfest, Sidewalk Arts Stroll and
the Tinsel Trail.

Downtown Huntsville Inc. revealed the finalists Tuesday
morning on its Facebook page and Twitter feed. The winners will be announced at
the group's first-ever annual meeting, scheduled for Jan. 10 in the atrium of
Propst Arena.

View full sizeThe Belk Hudson Lofts apartment building opened on Washington Street in October 2012. (Bob Gathany | bgathany@al.com)

Developer Charlie Sealy III and his wife, Sasha, spent $12.5
million converting the former Belk Hudson department store on Washington Street
into 75 loft apartments. Open since October 2012, Belk Hudson Lofts was the
first new rental housing built downtown in at least a generation.

In late August, AL.com and The Huntsville Times relocated from South Memorial Parkway to a
sleek two-story office in the Central Bank Building, 200 West Side Square. The
move downtown represented a return to the newspaper's roots. In March 1910, J.
Emory Pierce founded what was then called The Huntsville Daily Times at
the corner of Holmes Avenue and Greene Street.

On Dec. 7, more than two dozen Lowe Mill artists set up shop
for the night at the former Crossroads Music Hall on Clinton Avenue. Downtown Huntsville Inc. CEO Chad Emerson said
he hoped the "Pop Up Shop" would inspire someone to open a new business in the
space, which has been empty since Crossroads closed in May.

Following a successful renovation of the Courthouse Square,
the city is continuing the beautification work on Washington Street downtown. On
track for completion in early 2014, the $3.1 million makeover includes new sidewalks,
street lamps and traffic signals, heavy landscaping, more parallel parking
spaces and decorative brick pavers at the Clinton Avenue and Holmes Avenue intersections.